


More Than A Tolerable Happiness

by triskaidekaphilia



Category: Mansfield Park - Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Elinor Dashwood, Established Relationship, F/F, Infidelity, Lesbian Fanny Price, POV Fanny Price, Past Infidelity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-08
Updated: 2015-12-08
Packaged: 2018-05-05 17:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5384210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/triskaidekaphilia/pseuds/triskaidekaphilia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One year after Frankie Bertram and Elinor Ferrars met and had an affair, the two still-married women see each other again and must make a decision regarding their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Than A Tolerable Happiness

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks go to [Clarissa](http://skilletkind.tumblr.com/) for discussing this idea with me so thoroughly. Also a shout out to [From Mansfield With Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njBFxjzu7_E&index=1&list=PLmsm7oFLjXNecAKxAdpf8YQ4ezL3H7lEA) (which, if you love MP but haven't seen yet, you should totally go watch!) for some Modern AU ideas (such as making "Fanny" into "Frankie").

The hotel seemed bigger than last time. Frankie Bertram looked around to confirm that it was, in fact, the same hotel that had held the annual Science Teachers of England & Wales Academic Conference for the past five years. _Maybe there are just fewer people here_ , she reasoned. The main conference hall seemed too big for the usual number of attendees. _Or maybe I’m just imagining things_.

Truth was, if the hotel had somehow grown in size over the last year, then it might be harder for Elinor to find her. They hadn’t set a meeting place. They had just promised to be here and Elinor had said they’d find each other, no matter what. Of course, she had said it while peppering kisses across Frankie’s thighs, so it’s easy to see how she could have got caught up in the moment. _I’ll bet she and Edward aren’t even coming this year_.

Frankie and Edmund had been attending ever since Ed had started teaching at Mansfield Academy. Last year was the first time they had met Elinor and Edward Ferrars, even though Edward said they’d been coming since Edmund was still in Uni. But up until last year, the conference had always been extremely crowded and it wasn’t as if the Bertrams and Ferrars would run into each other anywhere else. Elinor had made that sound like a good thing; now, not having seen Elinor for a year, Frankie wasn’t so sure.

“Do you have the map, babe?”

Frankie frowned paused in her gazing about the conference hall to reach into her bag for a map of booths and vendors. “Here,” she said, handing a pamphlet to Ed, who seemed anxious to begin. He always tried so hard at these things, bless his soul.

“Any idea where we should start, then?” he asked her with a smile. “The Bio section is over there—” He pointed to the back left of the hall from where they were standing. “—but the Chemistry booths are all over there.” He added with a frown, pointing to the middle right of the hall.

“Which are they having you teach more of this year?” Frankie asked, smiling to herself at Ed’s perpetual lack of decision-making skills.

“Huh.” He shook his head. “I dunno yet. They haven’t told me.”

Frankie raised an eyebrow and he shrugged. “Fine then,” she said. “Let’s start at Biology and make our way from there.” And if Biology just happened to be Edward Ferrars’ main subject, then Frankie would just keep that knowledge to herself.

They were on their third booth about how to use digital tools for dissections instead of live animals when Frankie heard her name called. She turned around and there was Elinor, her long hair billowing out behind her as she ran up to give Frankie a hug.

“Oh, how I’ve missed you!” she cried.

Frankie was stunned for a second, thinking back to the last time they had embraced in Elinor’s suite upstairs. Her arms came around Elinor automatically and she couldn’t help but squeeze. She could smell Elinor’s shampoo; it smelled like home.

Elinor broke away before Frankie could say anything, which was probably for the best. The two stepped back and grinned at each other before greeting the husbands, who had already begun chatting about the “good old days” when schoolboys could stab a dead frog with a knife.

The two couples walked among the Biology booths, Edmund and Edward leading the conversation with minimal corrections from both Frankie and Elinor, who seemed to know their husbands’ syllabi better than the men themselves.

After they passed the fourth booth selling NEW Biodegradable Soap, Elinor tugged Frankie’s sleeve and the two hung back a bit as the boys shared lab horror stories.

“Edward will be down here for _hours_ ,” Elinor said, keeping her voice low. “And the suite the school bought us has an even bigger bed than last year.”

Frankie considered. She had both been looking forward to and dreading this moment for a year; she loved being with Elinor. Their two days together were the only times Frankie had ever felt truly like herself. Mansfield was great and Ed was amazing but it wasn’t until Ed had got the job at the Academy and the two had started talking to more people outside of the Bertram family that Frankie had realised how much she was missing. Other women didn’t just tolerate their husbands. She used to think that true love was just something people on telly or in books had—but then she’d met Elinor. Beautiful, charming, adoring Elinor. And something had clicked like never before.

But she still owed Ed and his family so much. His father had given her a job and a home away from her drunken father and crazy household.

Elinor was still waiting for Frankie to respond. _Oh, what the hell_. She smiled and nodded. “Sounds like you’ve got something fun already planned.”

Elinor grinned. “Oh, Franks, you’ve got no idea.” She quickly walked up to Edward and Edmund who were still deep in conversation. “Oh, boys,” she said to get their attention. “Frankie and I are starting to get a bit bored and thought we’d pop back to one of our suites for some girly talk. Think you can handle yourselves for a few hours?”

Frankie smiled. Elinor’s fast charm and smooth way of speaking was one of her favourite things about the woman.

“Bored already, babe?” Edmund smiled at Frankie. She gave a short nod and smiled back weakly, her stomach sinking at what he probably thought was an endearment but had never failed to make her skin crawl just a bit. He always sounded like his father whenever he called her “babe” and she would never get used to it.

Edward kissed Elinor quickly before letting her walk off with Frankie. Frankie noticed her subtly wipe off her lips with the back of her hand.

“I don’t know where his mouth has been recently,” Elinor said with a tight smile when she saw Frankie had noticed. “I’d rather not have some teaching aid’s cooties get on you, love.” Her smile grew to a real one and she took Frankie’s hand and squeezed while they waited for the lobby elevator.

Frankie squeezed back, her mind going a million miles an hour. Elinor had briefly mentioned Edward’s infidelity before, but she hadn’t seemed quite so bitter about it before. The year apart seemed to have hardened her.

When the elevator came, Elinor dropped Frankie’s hand and the two got on, along with an elderly man and woman and a woman in a pantsuit speaking quickly into her mobile. Elinor pushed the button for the highest floor, winking at Frankie. The elderly couple got off on the third floor and the woman with the mobile on the fifth. The second the doors closed behind her, Elinor pulled Frankie to her and kissed her fiercely. Frankie kissed back just as fervently, revelling in the feeling of having Elinor’s mouth on hers once again.

The elevator dinged their arrival to the top floor and the two broke apart into giggles, each breathing much harder than they had been a minute ago. As Elinor led Frankie to her suite, Frankie couldn’t take the smile off her face. _This_ is what she’d been missing for the past year, this exciting rush of holding hands in hotel hallways and making out in elevators. She never did anything close to this much fun with Edmund. She helped him with his syllabi and bought supplies that the school refused to order and she spent the rest of her time between knitting and crocheting things for a local shop and visiting the Bertrams at the old manor house. It was all right and it paid the bills, but god she was so _bored_.

They reached Elinor’s room and Elinor swiftly unlocked it. She tugged Frankie inside and pushed her against the door, closing it. “I cannot tell you how much I’ve thought about this,” she said against Frankie’s neck.

Frankie hummed.

“No, really, Franks. Every time Edward came home late smelling like cheap perfume, I would remember our time together. I finally looked Edmund up online to see if I could ring you but his school doesn’t even list an address for you two.” Elinor’s mouth soon became too busy to talk anymore.

Frankie was shocked. Elinor had been the one who suggested they not contact each other. Frankie had readily agreed, unsure and confused about her own emotions, and wary to hurt Edmund, but it was always Elinor’s plan to stay apart. That she had missed Frankie perhaps just as much as Frankie had missed her made Frankie wonder, just for a moment, that there was hope that this could go be more than a few yearly trysts.

Soon, however, Frankie found herself unable to think about very much else but what Elinor’s hand was doing beneath her skirt.

 

A couple of hours later, Frankie found herself lounging on Elinor’s (very large) bed, cradled in Elinor’s arms. “Did you really try to ring me?” Frankie asked thoughtfully.

Elinor kissed Frankie’s shoulder. “Yes, and I was quite annoyed that you’re unlisted.”

Frankie laughed. “It’s Edmund’s father’s doing. He’s a bit paranoid. Thinks being in the phonebook is for people without titles. The only people worth talking to already have our number, according to him.”

Elinor laughed, too. “Yes, that does sound like our conservatives in the House of Lords. Tossers.” After a moment she asked, “And you? Did you ever think about ringing me?”

Frankie’s smile slipped away. “Every day,” she whispered.

“But you never did,” Elinor said solemnly. “Why not?”

“I didn’t think you wanted me to.” Frankie sat up so she could look at Elinor as she spoke.

Elinor stared at Frankie, her expression unreadable. “Would you leave him? Would you leave Edmund for me?”

“Elinor—”

“Never mind, don’t answer that.” Elinor looked away. “You’re going to say no. And I know we barely know each other but, Franks, you are who I think about every single day. I wake up next to Edward and I wish it were you. Edward’s been going out more and more and I don’t know how to stop it. I’m not sure I want to anymore.”

Frankie looked down. She didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t been happy with Edmund for years, maybe as far back as when he’d been seeing Mary Crawford. When Elinor asked if she would leave him, her first instinct wasn’t to say _no_. It was to say _yes_.

Frankie looked back up and saw the lightest trace of tears rolling down Elinor’s cheeks. When Elinor realised that Frankie had seen, she wiped her face and said, “Oh, it’s nothing. Please don’t worry. I should have known better than to ask you. You’re the most proper person I know—of course you can’t leave your husband. I’m sorry I said anything.”

Frankie slid closer to Elinor and pulled her in for a hug. Elinor let herself fall into Frankie’s arms and Frankie kissed the top of her head. “I didn’t say no,” she whispered.

She felt rather than heard Elinor gasp, just the smallest intake of breath. Elinor moved up and looked Frankie in the eyes. “Would you then?” She said it so quietly that Frankie could barely hear her despite their proximity.

Frankie couldn’t help but give Elinor a small smile. “I would definitely consider it.”

Elinor gave a little squeal and nearly jumped. She kissed Frankie urgently, not seeming to care that they were off balance. Frankie felt herself slipping and gently pulled the two of them down onto the pillows before they fell. She kissed Elinor back just as fervently and knew that this was the right thing to do. Together, they were happy; with their husbands, they weren’t. It was that simple. And even if it didn’t work out with Elinor, Frankie knew that she needed to spend some time away from Edmund. She was realising that gratitude didn’t make the best basis for a long-lasting, loving relationship. With Elinor, she had a chance at happiness. They both did.

**Author's Note:**

> I completely made up the Science Teachers of England & Wales Academic Conference. I am also fairly certain that no academic conferences have booths or vendors like this one, at least none that I've been to.


End file.
